by 
The legend of the bathing young Bathsheba, whom King David saw walking in the evening on the roof of his palace, served as a motive for the depiction of a naked body illuminated in dense greenery by the slanting rays of the setting sun. The vivid tangibility of Bathsheba’s body sparkling with whiteness, the subtlest play of chiaroscuro enveloping her figure, the plastic expressiveness of forms with a clear definition of the contour – the artist painted this picture from life.
In Bathsheba, Bryullov glorified the beauty and perfection of the human body, using a spectacular contrast between the fair skin of Bathsheba and the blackness of her Ethiopian maid.
Year of painting: 1832.
Dimensions of the painting: 173 x 125.5 cm.
Material: canvas.
Writing technique: oil.
Genre: religious painting.
Style: romanticism.
Gallery: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
